Clever Culture Systems has collected silver at the prestigious Medical Design Excellence Awards (MDEAs) for its innovative APAS Independence instrument, which Planet Innovation helped develop.
The MDEAs, held in New York on 12 June, are the medtech industry’s premier awards, recognizing achievements in medical product design and engineering that improve the quality of healthcare delivery and accessibility.
The APAS Independence – a stand-alone automated culture plate reading instrument – won silver in the Testing and Diagnostic Products and Systems category.
The instrument increases the efficiency of laboratories by allowing the microbiologists to focus on the specimens that need their expert attention. Where a microbiologist would normally need to sort through all Petri dishes, the APAS Independence uses an innovative triage system to screen and sort 200 dishes per hour. It uses digital imaging analysis software to identify culture plates with non-significant growth (i.e. a negative test result) and remove them from the workflow. This allows microbiologists to focus on the significant plates requiring further analysis.
Peter Bradley, General Manager at Clever Culture Systems, said the award was global recognition of the company’s innovative work: “The APAS Independence is a unique instrument. There are no other instruments out there that will read the plates the same as a microbiologist.”
Colin Potter, General Manager of PI Manufacturing, Peter Bradley, General Manager of Clever Culture Systems, and Brent Barnes, Director of Clever Culture Systems Culture Systems at the MDEAs
Mr Bradley (pictured above centre with Colin Potter, General Manager of PI Manufacturing and Brent Barnes, Director of Clever Culture Systems) commended Planet Innovation for developing the instrument’s hardware and supporting the user testing in a microbiology lab.
“PI has been very consultative, responsive and supportive. They’ve played a vital role in integrating the APAS technology into this stand-alone instrument, ensuring it is easy to use and returns reliable and consistent results,” he said.
Ian Macfarlane, General Manager of PI Design, said PI was proud to support the global rollout of the APAS Independence.
“Being recognized by the MDEAs is well-deserved international recognition of the contribution Clever Culture Systems and parent company LBT Innovations is making to the medtech industry,” he said.
“It’s also fantastic recognition of the great work we are doing at PI. We had a team of 25 to 30 people working on the development of the APAS Independence, including industrial designers and mechanical, electrical and software engineers.”
MDEA winners are chosen by an impartial panel of judges comprised of clinicians, engineers and designers with years of experience in the industry. Judgement is based on five criteria, including design and engineering innovations, functional innovations, benefits to overall healthcare, benefits to patients, and competitive landscape.
